Interview with Manos Thanasakakis from Pefkohori, Chalkidiki, Greece.
Manos has 29-year-old and lives in a small town on the beautiful coast of the Halkidiki Peninsula, known as the first finger. He has studied Sports Science in Thessaloniki and is specialized in outdoor sports such as climbing, mountain biking, canyoning, etc. Currently, he is beginning to work with other friends and colleagues in an association on the town with the aim of promoting sports and sharing spaces for the community. They have seen and lived this need since they were very young.
We were talking about the project, the great potential that has the area and the ideas that have been around his head for years. So I started interviewing him about one of the most interesting topics of European Youth Week: professional development.
How have you experienced the formation opportunities since you were young? And now, do you think that there are possibilities to continue training continuously?
Because we live in a small town, the alternatives of education are few... almost all the children go to the same school that is located in the larger village. However, I consider that my generation has received a good education, since most of my friends have gone to university and now, in one way or another, we are working. Nevertheless, something that I would have liked is to have received more extra academic formation. I have friends in Thessaloniki who have received trainnings in all kinds of fields: music, sports, art, theatre... and I think that the alternative formation is very important to complement the learning. Here in Pefkohori, we have not had that opportunity and I have not experienced new training options when I finished university and came back here to work.
How do you consider the job opportunities offered in your city or in your country?
With regard to work, here in Pefkohori we live a particular situation because we are a tourist village that is open mainly during the summer season, so the most of the people can only work for six months a year. Now with COVID much less than six months… and imagine how local people have been affected. I think that employment in Greece and especially for young people, has very poor quality and is very precarious. It is very difficult to find a well-paid job and an employ that gives you quality of life. Young people spend hours and hours working in jobs with nothing of security and earning the minimum salary. This fact, together with the high prices of food, incomes, etc ... affect the development of young people. I have friends who have been working as slaves for more than 8 years and they still live with their parents and not because they want to, but because the money they earn does not give them to pay rent and live.
Tell me a little about your dreams and job expectations? How do you think you can empower yourself and grow professionally?
Here in Pefkohori, I also do seasonal work with my brothers in a club bar that has become very popular in the village and it is going well. However, this job is something that does not fill me at all and I would not like to be working on that all my life.
Currently, I am very excited with the social project that we are putting out in Pefkohori. We believe that it is very important to promote sport among young people, to create a network in the community and indirectly that tourism also gets benefits.
We have many ideas on mind such as opening a climbing association, creating new mountain bike trails in the valley or opening a bike path that connects the villages with an abandoned area where we want to start doing activities. I believe that a project like this, which comes from ourselves but is focused on the community, is what could really make me grow and advance personally and professionally.
Do you think that the atmosphere or mood around you drives you to achieve your dreams and improve professionally?
I feel much supported by my family and my friends, but we are having difficulties on working with the community and reaching to start moving the project. There are many people here who do not want to do anything, they want to live as they lived fifty years ago and that is not possible, society advances, young people have needs and we have to fight to achieve our dreams. Despite the difficulties, we will continue to fight to carry this project forward and create a new village with new dreams.
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